The Google Chromebook and the Cloud
A portable computing revolution is upon us and for once we’re not talking about tablets or smartphones.
Google’s Chromebook is the latest revelation in mobile tech. Optimised for the complete web browsing experience the Google Chromebook is essentially the Google Chrome browser manifested into your computers own personal operating system.
With no hard drive, a measly 16GB worth of capable storage and not so much as a built in music or video player to be found onboard, the initial outlook is bleak for Google’s Chromebook. But never fear, for what the Google Chromebook lacks in the way of physical features and built in software it attempts to make up with ‘The Cloud’.
The Cloud for those of you that don’t know is a metaphorical term used to describe a huge digital network that gives you access to many online computational resources, such as apps, data, documents and more.
Just in the way a Facebook profile remembers all your activities, messages and posts without saving a single thing on to your hard drive, so to will the Google Chromebook host all your content and activities online (in the cloud). This could include anything from your ‘Google Docs’, used to write online word documents, to keeping a huge collection of apps, songs, emails, or even movies logged away online.
The advantage to having the Google Chromebook and the Cloud working in harmony is that everything is quick and easy. According to Google, booting up takes on average 8 seconds and you can resume instantly from where you left off.
What’s more the Google Chromebook through its continuous updates is designed to get quicker through time. And with the Google Chromebook’s extensive security features you are less susceptible to attack and infection from online malware and viruses which will hopefully let you breathe a little easier.
It is now unfortunately that we have to point out the Chromebook’s Achilles heel and for those that haven’t guessed it already it is of course the absence of an internet connection.
Without internet the Google Chromebook is for all intents and purposes as useful as a chocolate teapot. Without the precious cloud software access the Chromebook is almost redundant of features. And unless you have the Samsung 3G version of the Google Chromebook then connection will become an increasingly pressing issue.
Google do say that they are working hard to get several important apps available offline such as Gmail and Google docs, but isn’t that just going against the idea of the Google Chromebook altogether?
In my opinion the Google Chromebook has a lot going for it and I do like the idea of having my life on the cloud and that’s mainly for convenience. For example if I were to buy and then unfortunately lose my Google Chromebook as soon as I finished uploading all my data and docs on to it. I could simply buy another one, log in with my details and ‘hey presto’ all my data is safely backed up online.
On the other hand I do understand the concerns many share over leaving all their personal details online, especially after the string of high profile hacks on brands such as Sony, Citibank and Nintendo.
The Google Chromebook and the Cloud are clearly meant for each other and even though the first wave of Google Chromebooks might not appeal to everyone’s tastes it certainly is a nice step away from anything else going on at the moment.